Ex-IPS Officer Sanjiv Bhatt Moves Supreme Court For Suspension Of 20-Year Jail Sentence In 1996 Drug Planting Case

Ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt has approached the Supreme Court seeking suspension of the 20-year jail sentence imposed on him in the 1996 drug planting case.

The case was listed today before a bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi. It got adjourned at the request of Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal (for Bhatt).

Initially, Bhatt approached the Gujarat High Court for suspension of sentence and grant of bail. But his plea was rejected. "having regard to the seriousness and gravity of the offence, the rigors of Section 37 of the NDPS Act, presumption of innocence being reversed post conviction, societal impact, antecedents and position of the applicant at the time of incident, we are not inclined to consider the prayer seeking suspension of sentence and grant of bail", the High Court said.

Bhatt was arrested in September 2018 under a direction of the Gujarat High Court to the CID to probe the case in which a Rajasthan-based lawyer (Sumer Singh Rajpurohit) was alleged to have been framed by the Banaskantha police on the allegations of keeping 1.5 kg of opium at a Palanpur hotel in 1996. During that period, Bhatt served as the district superintendent of police, while IB Vyas, an inspector with the local crime branch in Palanpur, was also implicated as a co-accused in the case.

In 2021, Vyas became an approver in the case. As per the prosecution, Bhatt, along with co-accused, conspired to frame lawyer-Rajpurohit under the NDPS Act.

In March, 2024, a Sessions court at Palanpur in Gujarat's Banaskantha sentenced Bhatt to 20 years in jail. He was sentenced under NDPS Sections 21(c), 27A (punishment for financing illicit traffic and harboring offenders). A fine of Rs 2 lakh was also imposed upon him.

The Gujarat Court found him guilty under Sections 21(c), 27A, 29 (abetment and criminal conspiracy to commit offence under NDPS Act), 58 (1) and (2) (vexatious entry, search, seizure and arrest) of the NDPS Act. He was also found guilty under Sections 465 (Forgery), 471 (using forged document), 167 (public servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury), 204 (secrets or destroys any document), 343 (wrongful confinement), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intent) of the IPC.

At the time, Bhatt was also serving a sentence of life imprisonment in a 1990 custodial death case. In April this year, the Supreme Court rejected his application to suspend the sentence in the custodial death case.

The SLP has been filed through Advocates Rajesh G. Inamdar and Shashwat Anand.

Case Title: SANJEEVKUMAR RAJENDRABHAI BHATT (IPS) v. STATE OF GUJARAT, SLP(Crl) No. 15846/2025